Victory Day on May 8 and May 9 Two separate capitulation events took place at the time

Tuesday 8 May 1945 was ‘Victory in Europe’ (VE) Day, and it marked the formal end of Hitler’s war.

With it came the end of six years of misery, suffering, courage and endurance across the world.

Two separate capitulation events took place at the time. First, the capitulation to the Allied nations in Reims was signed on 7 May 1945, effective 23:01 CET 8 May. This date is commonly referred to as the V-E Day (Victory in Europe Day) in most western European countries. The other World War II victory day, the V-J day (Victory in Japan Day) is commemorated in August, and is of considerably lesser significance in Europe.

However, the Soviet Union’s only representative in Reims was General Ivan Susloparov, the Military Liaison Mission Commander. General Susloparov’s scope of authority was not entirely clear, and he had no means of immediate contact with the Kremlin, but nevertheless decided to sign for the Soviet side.
Susloparov was caught off guard; he had no instructions from Moscow. But if he did not sign, he risked a German surrender without Soviet participation. However, he noted that it could be replaced with a new version in the future. Joseph Stalin was later displeased by these events, believing that the German surrender should have been accepted only by the envoy of the USSR Supreme command and signed only in Berlin and insisted the Reims protocol be considered preliminary, with the main ceremony to be held in Berlin, where Marshal Zhukov was at the time, as the latter recounts in his memoirs:

“ [Quoting Stalin:] Today, in Reims, Germans signed the preliminary act on an unconditional surrender.The main contribution, however, was done by Soviet people and not by the Allies, therefore the capitulation must be signed in front of the Supreme Command of all countries of the anti-Hitler coalition, and not only in front of the Supreme Command of Allied Forces. Moreover, I disagree that the surrender was not signed in Berlin, which was the center of Nazi aggression. We agreed with the Allies to consider the Reims protocol as preliminary. ” (

Therefore, another ceremony was organized in a surviving manor in the outskirts of Berlin late on 8 May, when it was already 9 May in Moscow due to the difference in time zones. Field-Marshal Wilhelm Keitel submitted the capitulation of the Wehrmacht to Marshal Georgy Zhukov in the Soviet Army headquarters in Berlin-Karlshorst. To commemorate the victory in the war, the ceremonial Moscow Victory Parade was held in the Soviet capital on 24 June 1945 (four years and two days after the beginning of Operation Barbarossa – the invasion of the Soviet Union).

Victory Day Parade in Moscow every year May 9

Victory Day 9 May marks the capitulation of Nazi Germany to the Soviet Union in the Second World War (also known as the Great Patriotic War in the Soviet Union). It was first inaugurated in the fifteen republics of the Soviet Union, following the signing of the surrender document late in the evening on 8 May 1945 (after midnight, thus on 9 May, by Moscow Time). The Soviet government announced the victory early on 9 May after the signing ceremony in Berlin.

Though the official inauguration happened in 1945 (which means it has been celebrated since 1946), the holiday became a non-labour day only in 1965 and only in some of the countries.

In the former Soviet Union this festival was celebrated to commemorate the Red Army’s victory over the Nazi forces.

National WWII Memorial “Save Our History” Teachers Guide and Interactive TimelineThe History Channel� developed a teacher’s manual that accompanied its special on the National World War II Memorial. You can download the guide by clicking on the links below. The document is in two parts and can be viewed with Adobe’s Acrobat Reader. (Download Adobe Acrobat Reader here.) Download: Part 1 (334k) Part 2 (205k) Note: The American Battle Monuments Commission is no longer raising funds for the WWII Memorial. Please do not implement the fund raising suggestions provided in chapter IV of the Teacher’s Guide unless for a cause other than the National WWII Memorial.

Victory in World War II References:

• http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/veday_germany_01.shtml
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victory_Day_%289_May%29
• http://www.nationalww2museum.org/learn/public-programming/index.html
• The War: A Film by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick  This documentary film tells the story of the Second World War through personal accounts of men and women from four American towns. – http://www.pbs.org/thewar/
• http://www.pbs.org/search/?q=world%20war%202
• http://www.pbs.org/
• By Tank into Normandy by Stuart Hills (Cassell & Co, 2002)
• Never Again by Peter Hennessy (Vintage, 1993)
• Chinthe Women by S. Jaffe (The Authors, Chipping Norton, 2001)

We get a lot of questions about SEO here on WordPress.com, and no wonder — you work hard on your site and want to get the word out! SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. SEO recommendations are intended to help your site rank higher and more accurately in search engines, like Google. Say you write a blog about sailboats. When someone Googles “sailboats,” how many pages of results do they have to scroll through before they see a link to your blog? The goal behind having good SEO is to increase your website’s SERP (Search Engine Results Page) ranking.

On the busy internet, it can be tough to make your “sailboat” stand out from all the others.

Ideally, you want your link to be on the first page of results. The best ways to accomplish this are:

• consistently publish useful, original posts about sailboats; and
• promote your blog in intelligent ways to people who are looking for information about your topic.

The more traffic your blog receives for sailboat-related searches, the higher it will climb in Google’s results. No mystery to that, right? But if you look around the internet, you’ll find dubious advice about how to increase your blog’s SERP ranking. Some of the suggestions you’ll find are just extra busywork, but some can actually end up hurting you with Google.

Common myths about SEO

Myth: I need a plugin for SEO.

Fact: WordPress.com has great SEO right out of the box — you don’t have to do anything extra. In fact, WordPress takes care of 80-90 percent of the mechanics of SEO for you, according to Matt Cutts, head of Google’s webspam team. All of our themes are optimized for search engines, which means they are designed to make it easy for the Googlebot (and other search engines) to crawl through them and discover all the content.

Myth: I need to regularly submit Sitemaps to Google so it knows I’m blogging regularly.

Fact: Every WordPress.com blog has an XML Sitemap. To view your Sitemap, type yourblogname.wordpress.com/sitemap.xml in your browser’s address bar. What you see there is code, so it’s not meant to be easily readable by us. For the Googlebot, however, it’s a “what’s hot” guide to the latest and greatest on your site. WordPress.com also automatically sends notifications to Google every time you publish or update a post or page. This is similar to how your subscribers get email updates. Every time you post, you’re telling Google, “Hey! Check this out.”

Here’s how this blog’s XML Sitemap looks in Chrome.

Myth: The more tags and categories I use for a post, the better it is for Google.

Fact: Using a bunch of tags and categories that have little to do with your posts won’t increase your site’s visibility. Actually, Google doesn’t rely on tags or categories — it can tell what your post is about from its content (or it should be able to), as Matt Cutts explains here. Plus, any post on WordPress.com with too many categories and tags will be excluded from the Reader Topics pages. It’s best to use only a few, carefully selected categories and tags for each post — those that are most relevant to what the post is about. Likewise, avoid overly broad tags: “catamaran” is a better tag than “boat.”

Myth: Creating several identical sites about sailboats and making frequent use of sailboat-related terminology in my posts will help me get a lot of sailboat-related traffic.

Fact: Google frowns on duplicate content, and if you have multiple identical sites, your search ranking will suffer for it. Also, while it’s a good idea to use accurate keywords in your posts and post titles, going overboard with so-called “keyword stuffing” will hurt your SERP rank. Strive for clear, natural-sounding writing that reads like it was intended for human ears, not search engine crawlers.

Myth: One effective way to improve my blog’s SERP rank is to purchase or exchange links (sometimes known as “backlinks”) with as many bloggers as possible, so that there’s a lot of traffic going to my blog.

Fact: If you blog about sailboats, the more sailboat-focused sites and articles that organically link to your blog as a fantastic source of sailboat info, the better. On the other hand, Google won’t be impressed if it sees a ton of links to your sailboat blog from blogs about, say, marketing, basketry, lipstick, electronics, or SEO tactics.

Think of it this way: Google wants people to use its search engine as much as you want them to visit your website, so its goal is to return the most useful results for any given query. The more tactics bloggers come up with to fool Google into ranking their sites higher than they deserve to be, the more Google corrects its search algorithms to screen out such bad behavior.

Paying for backlinks is a case in point: in April 2012, Google introduced its controversial Penguin algorithm that improved screening for this bad practice, and many bloggers with excessive backlinks found that their SERP rank plummeted. The moral of this story is that while SEO fads might bump your site artificially for a bit, in the long run, they won’t work.

Myth: SEO requires a strategy and possibly an expert…

For more read original post: http://en.blog.wordpress.com/2013/03/22/seo-on-wordpress-com/

• How to Use Hash Tags on Twitter?
• Social Media and Social Bookmarking Sites
• Social Media Sites, Professional Networking Sites, Niche Social Media Sites, General Social Media Sites
• Most Popular Social Networking Websites
• How to Attract More Visitors to Blog and Website?

For more information about social media networking, how to add podcast to your website, SEO tips, tricks, social media  good practice, online tools and how to market your site visit New York Web Designer Agency Website

Reblogged from WordPress.com News:

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Do you shoot photographs or video? Illustrate, paint, or draw? Design things? If you answered "yes" to one or more of the above, WordPress.com is the perfect place to show your stuff. We've just launched WordPress.com/portfolios to help you build an online portfolio you’re proud of.

Over 30 portfolio themes

You need a canvas that lets your work shine. With over 30…

Read more… 538 more words

Showcase Your Creativity and  Enhance Your Site with Post Formats - Re-blogged from WordPress.com

With over 30 portfolio themes to choose from (and over 200 total themes in our Theme Showcase), there’s surely one that reflects your style. Portfolio Themes Customize your theme Your online portfolio is about you and your personal brand. All of our themes let you set a custom header image and a custom background image or color. Customize Your Site Turn your portfolio site into a work of art in itself with the Custom Design upgrade. Choose the fonts and colors that match your personal style, and tweak your design even further with Custom CSS.

Manage your portfolio

In addition to themes, WordPress.com provides heaps of tools you can use to maintain your online portfolio and communicate with clients and prospective employers.

Stunning images

Your images are everything. Our themes and tools are designed to make your images look great. Do you have special projects that you want to highlight? Some of our portfolio themes, such as Skylark and Simfo, come with featured post sliders that show off these projects with beautiful featured images. ... Read more on original post here: http://en.blog.wordpress.com/2013/01/16/showcase-your-creativity-with-a-portfolio-site/

You can Also Enhance Your Site with Post Formats:

A simple way to add visual variety to your site’s front page is to publish your content using Post Formats. Over 50 of our themes support Post Formats, which means they can display various types of content — including images, videos, quotes, links, audio, and short snippets called “asides” — with different formatting, adding subtle but nice touches to your site. The types of Post Formats you can choose from depends on your theme. To see what Post Formats your current theme supports, go to Posts » Add New in the dashboard and look for a Format module on the right, with various options like the one below: Using Post Formats is optional — if your theme supports them, you don’t have to use them, since the default (standard) format works well with any content you publish. Using Post Formats is also free: you don’t need to purchase the custom CSS upgrade to enable different Post Formats.

Our Top Themes Now Support Post Formats

Recently, we made our top 25 themes — from popular free themes like Pilcrow, Manifest, and Bueno to premium themes such as Elemin — look even better with Post Formats. Here’s a sampling of how Post Formats look different, using the Elemin theme as an example:

Image Format:

Video Format:

Quote Format:

Link Format:

Read original blog post: Enhance Your Site with Post Formats   Related Posts:

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For more information about social media networking, how to add podcast to your website, SEO tips, tricks, social media  good practice, online tools and how to market your site visit New York Web Designer Agency Website

A joint venture (JV) is a business agreement in which parties agree to develop, for a finite time, a new entity and new assets by contributing equity.

By Alla Gul (MBA) – Our Contributor

A joint venture (JV) is a legal organization that takes the form of a partnership in which individuals, groups of individuals, companies, or corporations jointly undertake a transaction for mutual profit (“Joint Venture”, n.d.).

The parties agree to create a new entity by contributing equity.

Then they share in the revenues, expenses, and control of the enterprise. This paper discusses why joint ventures may be formed and what benefits may be expected when domestic and foreign companies form a venture. Then resent joint venture example is briefly illustrated.

The partnership can happen between big companies in an industry to differentiate, for example. The joint venture can occur between two small businesses that partner in order to successfully fight their bigger competitors. In addition, companies with identical products and services can also join forces “to penetrate markets they wouldn’t or couldn’t consider without investing tremendous resources” (“Joint Venturing”, n.d., p. 2). Next, a large company can decide to form a joint venture with a smaller business “in order to quickly acquire critical intellectual property, technology, or resources otherwise hard to obtain, even with plenty of cash at their disposal” (“Joint Venturing”, n.d., p. 2). To add, “There are good business and accounting reasons to create a joint venture with a company that has complementary capabilities and resources, such as distribution channels, technology, or finance” (“Joint Ventures (VS)”,  n.d.). Below are some major reasons for forming a joint venture:

Internal reasons

1.         Build on company’s strengths

2.         Spreading costs and risks

3.         Improving access to financial resources

4.         Economies of scale and advantages of size

5.         Access to new technologies and customers

6.         Access to innovative managerial practices

Competitive goals

1.         Influencing structural evolution of the industry

2.         Pre-empting competition

3.         Defensive response to blurring industry boundaries

4.         Creation of stronger competitive units

5.         Speed to market

6.         Improved agility

Strategic goals

1.         Synergies

2.         Transfer of technology/skills

3.         Diversification

(“Joint Venture”, n.d.). 

Joint ventures between companies headquartered in different countries can be particularly beneficial. First, companies may use joint ventures to gain entrance into foreign markets. For example, foreign companies form joint ventures with domestic companies that already are present in markets the foreign companies would like to enter.  Moreover, due to local regulations, some markets can only be accessed via joint venturing with a local business (“Joint Venturing”, 101, n.d., p.2). For example, China and to some extent India, require foreign companies to form joint ventures with domestic firms in order to enter a market (“Joint Venture”, n.d). Next, the foreign companies “generally bring new technologies and business practices into the joint venture, while the domestic companies already have the relationships and requisite governmental documents within the country along with being entrenched in the domestic industry”( “Joint venture”, n.d.). For example, joint ventures are common in the oil and gas industry, and are often formed between a local and foreign company. “A joint venture is often seen as a very viable business alternative in this sector, as the companies can complement their skill sets while it offers the foreign company a geographic presence” (“Joint Venture”, n.d.).

Recently the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and CAE, Canada signed an agreement to establish a joint venture company that will open a helicopter simulator training center in Bangalore, India.

The company, Helicopter Academy To Train By Simulation Of Flying (HATSOFF), will be owned equally by HAL and CAE. The training center is expected to begin operations in late 2008 by providing both civil and military helicopter pilot and maintenance training services. (“HAL”, 2007)

Questions to Answer Before You Approach a New Joint Venture Partner.
Click to read more…

CAE is a world leader in providing simulation and modeling technologies and integrated training solutions for the civil aviation industry and defense forces around the globe (“About CAE”, n.d.). The Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) is in the list of top 100 defense companies in the world (“HAL 34^th”, n.d.). Among its products are helicopters, aircrafts, advances communication and navigation equipment, and aerospace equipment (“Our Products”, n.d.). By forming the joint venture, the CAE is trying to extend its business-jet training network, to expend its distribution channels, to increase sales of its stimulators, and to capture and extend into India’s growing market (“Remarks for”, 2007,  p.3).  For the Indian partner, this joint venture provides the opportunity to differentiate, to acquire new skills and technology and to extend its marketing reach. Finally, both companies are expected to benefit from a development of a new market and from growth in revenues and profits.

To conclude, a joint venture is a strategic alliance where two or more parties form a partnership to share markets, intellectual property, assets, knowledge, and,  profits. (“Joint Venturing”, n.d., p.1).  The partnership may be formed between domestic companies or between domestic and foreign partners. When carefully planned and successfully implemented, joint ventures bring multiple benefits to parties involved

References

About CAE. CAE Inc. Retrieved September 26, 2007 from

 http://www.cae.com/www2004/About_CAE/index.shtml

HAL, Canada’s CAE ink joint venture for helicopter simulator training center. (2007).

Yahoo Business News. Retrieved September 26, 2007 from  http://in.news.yahoo.com/070926/139/6l8gn.html

HAL 34th among top 100 defense firms. Hindustan Aeronautic Limited. Retrieved

 September 26, 2007 from http://www.hal-india.com/34th.asp

Joint ventures. Cornell University Law School.  Retrieved September 26, 2007 from

 http://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/index.php/Joint_venture

Joint venture. Wikipedia. Retrieved September 24, 2007 from

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joint_venture

Joint ventures (JVs). E-coach: Sharing Capital, Technology, Human Resources, Risks

 and Rewards. Retrieved September 26, 2007 from

 http://www.1000ventures.com/business_guide/jv_main.html

Our products. Hindustan Aeronautic Limited. Retrieved September 26, 2007 from

 http://www.hal-india.com/products.asp

Remarks for first quarter fiscal year 2008 results. (2007). CAE. Retrieved September 26,

 2007 from

http://www.cae.com/www2004/Investor_Relations/PDF/2008/CAE_FY08Q1_Remarks-en.pdf

Scott Allen. Joint venturing 101. About.com- Entrepreneurs. Retrieved September 26,

 2007 from http://entrepreneurs.about.com/od/beyondstartup/a/jointventures.htm